Defunct rides you wish you could’ve gone on?

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GASM

GASM

The Arrow Apologist
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Feb 24, 2024
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Working on a bucket list of coasters and it’s made me think of the ones I would’ve loved to ride that either got away or were gone before I was born. Feel free to share your own!

Arrow: Bat, Eagle Fortress, Big Bad Wolf, XLR-8 (I really do love my Arrow suspendeds lol), Shockwave, Vortex, and not quite defunct but clearly not being relocated, Dragon Mountain

B&M: Dueling Dragons

Intamin: Alpine Bobsled, Volcano

Mack: Wizard’s Cavern, mostly just for the novelty of riding a coaster that started at Cedar Point and ended at Casino Pier, a place I grew up going to

Maurer: Rip Ride Rockit, the most recent entry here

PTC: Jack Rabbit (Clementon Park), Thunder Road

Premier: Batman & Robin: The Chiller

RCCA: Son of Beast, just for the hell of it

S&S: Do-Dodonpa

Schwarzkopf: Mindbender, Scorpion, Texas Tornado/Zonga, Cedar Point’s second Wildcat as I had no idea it had been removed before my first visit lol

Togo: The Ultra Twister that rotated through Six Flags parks

Vekoma: Any of the Flying Dutchman installations, missed Nighthawk by one season

Miscellaneous: Crystal Beach Cyclone, Coney Island Thunderbolt
 
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Partial list, counting certain relocations to other continents as "defunct" since I don't travel that far solely for amusement rides...

Eagle Fortress, Mindbender (Canada), Cyclone (Palisades), Montana Rusa (La Feria), Vortex (KI), King Kobra, Hypersonic (KD), Wild Mouse (Blackpool), Thunderbolt (Coney NY), Tornado (Coney NY), Coaster Dips (Glen Echo), Greased Lightnin', Shooting Star (Coney OH), Twisted Sisters, White Lightnin', original Bat, Ultimate, Dodonpa, Thriller, Hurricane (Dania), Hurricane (Myrtle), Orient Express, Blue Streak (Conneaut), Villain, Mister Twister, Texas Cyclone, SOB (KI), Laser Loop, Leap The Dips 😕, Thriller, Led Zeppelin, Georgia Cyclone
 
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I really do take for granted sometimes the fact that I got to ride both TTD and Ka, the latter easily being the coaster I’ve been on the most.
halfabee said:
Leap The Dips 😕
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I left this off of my list in foolish hopes that it could still have something resembling a future. What a shame that we’ve likely lost America’s two oldest coasters in back to back years.
 
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For me, this answer begins and ends with Batman & Robin: The Chiller. My coaster obsession started in September of 2007, so I missed its final operating day by a few months. I wasn't aware of its plethora issues at that time, so during each subsequent visit to the park that year (and there were several), I would gaze longingly over the treeline hoping to see it running. I distinctly remember believing I saw movement by its tracks one day, and running over just to see that pieces of the track had been removed. For the longest time, I held onto the longshot hope that it would be rebuilt at Beto Carrero World.

Trying to find out more info about the Chiller that offseason is how I first found Great Adventure History's website!

A few more:
- Escape From Krypton (I honestly don't think I would have been impressed with the ride at all, but the tower looked cool)
- Mega Zeph (it remained an iconic silhouette for a long time even after SFNO closed)
- Batwing (I had a trip to SFA planned all year and it was sad to see it SBNO when I finally went there, especially after the great work the park did to reopen it over the summer)
 
My first trip to Great Adventure was in 2006 and I was too short for Chiller. Wouldn’t be back until 2008, and even then my parents bought me Skechers with 1” heels so I could go on all the coasters lol.

Closest I got was doing whatever terror trail they did behind the station in like 2011ish, and I only wanted to do that trail to get a better look at the station and the Old Country in its abandoned state.
 
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Big Bad Wolf
Drachen Fire
Hyper sonic

Are my big 3
 
Volcano
Drachen Fire
Red Devil (at Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley)

I’ve never even seen Volcano. The other two, I’ve seen when I was little. The Red Devil was the first rollercoaster I ever saw (not counting a portable carnival coaster). A few years ago, I went for a drive through the mountains in my state and made a stop by the abandoned entrance of Ghost Town. Could see what was Red Devil up there chilling on top of the hill all by its lonesome self. Like an introverted coaster keeping to itself enjoying the view up there.

That whole place intrigues me and I really wish it could find its footing with proper investment, but I guess its market in location no longer exists, which is sad to me. It was my first vacation destination as a kid.
 
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I should clarify that I’d happily ride every defunct Arrow and PTC but kept it to a minimum lol.
 
if we're talking all coasters there are so many to pick. so many lost rides that looked incredible, however there is one modern coaster i can still ride but not how i really want to ride it, and thats absolutely Mantis @ Cedar Point. god it looked insane. specifically also 1996 trimless mantis. dear god.
 
Thrills & Chills WQAQ said:
if we're talking all coasters there are so many to pick. so many lost rides that looked incredible, however there is one modern coaster i can still ride but not how i really want to ride it, and thats absolutely Mantis @ Cedar Point. god it looked insane. specifically also 1996 trimless mantis. dear god.
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I did it when I was in high school, and though I don't really remember much of the ride itself, I definitely remember how unpleasant the forces were on my feet and legs. It probably didn't help that we got a ride on it somewhere in the middle of the day after walking a few miles between coasters and standing in lines (including the really long line for Disaster Transport).

I have a hard time narrowing down, so I'm going to say two different rides:

Unrealistic: Do Dodonpa (either configuration).

I have never been to Japan, and though I may get to go one day I most likely won't have time to visit any park if I do.

The one that got away: Drachen Fire.

I had grown just tall enough to ride the summer it was shut down and the one trip my family made that year was literally right after the closure.

To be fair, based on all descriptions, neither ride was all that comfortable to ride, so maybe I didn't actually miss anything?
 
For me

Arrow: Big Bad Wolf, Drachen Fire, Orient Express, Desparado,

Dinn: Mean Streak

B&M: Dueling Dragons (god I wish)

Intamin: Kingda Ka, Volcano

RCCA: Son of Beast

S&S: Do-Dodonpa

Togo: Ultra Twister, ShockWave

Vekoma: T3, cause I have to know if it was really that bad.

Misc: Leap the Dips

HM for a ride that was never built: The Excavator at DAK.
 
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Being in my early 40s, growing up in NJ with parents who took me on trip to Virginia and Ohio parks when I was young, there's not a lot that I don't have. BBW/Drachen Fire? Check. Viper @ SFGAdv? Check. Disaster Transport? Check. Volcano? Check. Both sides of Chiller, with and without barrel rolls? Check.

So these are mine hat I wished I could have gotten on before they were demolished:

Togo Ultra-Twisters (since I'm not likely to make it to Japan in the near future).

Hypersonic XLC (the one credit at KD I'm missing that I've been alive for).

Son of Beast with Loop (I have it sans-loop)

Texas Tornado (Schwarzkopf)
 
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